When nurses bond with their patients

As nurses we are taught that we are professionals and we must maintain a certain emotional distance with our patients. It's a boundary that encompasses the therapeutic relationship: nurses as caregivers, patients as the recipients of the care. But now, working as a nurse, I have found that while most of my professional boundaries are well defined, sometimes the line between a professional and personal relationship with a patient can become blurred. I work on an orthopedic surgical unit where most patients are coming in and going out very frequently. That makes it hard to get to know anyone too well. But there are some patients that we never forget, for good or bad reasons.